Some Folks Just Need Killin'
by clicketykeys
Summary: Follows the conclusion of the "Research" questline on Nar Shaddaa. Vacy and Corso finally track down Drooga's shanjaru... but there are some complications.


It should have been an easy job.

Of course, throw in a few Hutts, some street gangs, a few self-righteous terrorists, and of course the ever-present Imperial troublemakers, and things on Nar Shaddaa got complicated faster than you could say "a vrbither's vibroblade." Captain Vacy Fiorst had lost track of how many times they'd tracked down the person who supposedly had the beast they were looking for, only to be told that no, someone else had it now.

What in the world was so special about a shanjaru, anyway? Inwardly, Vacy threw a few curses toward her mechanic. That engine we're getting from Drooga had darn well better be worth all this trouble, Rish.

Fortunately, this time it looked like they'd hit pay dirt. There were several cages scattered throughout the room, and it wasn't too hard to spot the one that held an enormous creature that was clearly the mate of the one they'd brought to the planet. Vacy let out a long, contented sigh – but she kept Flashy pointed at the so-called scientist, Lazhae, that they'd barged in on.

He was sniveling in a most annoying fashion. "My beautiful, beautiful children. You killed them all! Why?"

Vacy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, they kinda attacked me. Also, you have something that doesn't belong to you. Didn't your mother teach you that it isn't nice to steal?"

There was some moaning from another of the cages, but Vacy didn't pay any attention to it until she heard Corso gasp. "Captain, it's the girl from the holo – Momi Andrell!" He rushed over, his boots clomping heavily on the tiled floor, and quickly keyed in the command that retracted the transparisteel walls. Crouching by her side, he gently lifted the woman's head.

"Please," she groaned. "Please kill me…"

Vacy saw Corso's jaw flex in a manner that didn't bode well for the cowering scientist. "What did that sick filth-heap do to you?" he murmured to her.

The woman blinked hazily at him. "Used me for experiments," she wheezed. It sounded like something was blocking her airway; each time she drew breath, it seemed to require great effort, and there was a wet hissing sound.

Shuddering, Vacy turned back to Lazhae. "You're going to cure her. And then you're going to pay for every second of pain you've inflicted on her," she snarled, and when he covered his face with his hands, she smiled.

"No – don't want revenge. It's too late, anyway; I'm dying." With one feeble hand, Andrell gestured at the shanjaru cage. "He took genetic samples. There's a researcher named Daru'da in the Senate Tower on Coruscant who can clone them and repopulate the species."

At that, Lazhae grabbed at Vacy, who stepped back in disgust. "No!" he shrieked. "Those samples are invaluable to my research! I need them. This species shows evidence of evolving sapience. I must unlock its secrets to engineer my perfect life form!" The little man became more and more animated, gesticulating wildly as he talked about his plans. "Smart beasts would comprehend complex commands and perform multi-stage tasks."

"Slaves, he means." Andrell seemed to be breathing a little easier as she rested against Corso. "He wants to make slaves."

Lazhae snorted in derision, waving one hand dismissively at the woman. "Bah! What the beasts' owners do with them is their business, not mine. I'm only interested in… ah… learning from the process of their development."

Vacy narrowed her eyes. "Right. So you're not at all interested in the profit that could be made from the sale of such… beings."

"Well, ah, yes, of course, they'd be very valuable." The researcher giggled, and Vacy couldn't hold back a shudder – he gave her the creeps. "But of course you understand about such matters, being such a resourceful businesswoman yourself." He smiled toothily at Vacy, and she found it just as repulsive as his laugh. "I have no desire for hostilities with Drooga or his agents. The cage the beast is in is a programmable repulsorlift vehicle. I'll send it to Drooga immediately. And I'll pay whatever it takes to keep the samples."

Several moments passed in silence as Vacy considered Lazhae's offer. Finally she nodded. "All right." She holstered Flashy and took out her datapad, pulling up her account information. "Where do I hook this up?"

"No!" Andrell cried out, struggling against Corso as she tried to stand. "Those samples are the only way to save the species. You ca-can't…" But any further protests were cut off as she gasped for breath.

Vacy followed Lazhae over to his holocomputer. She watched as he logged in, rubbing his hands gleefully. When his system was active, she nodded again. "Transfer ten thousand credits to this account," she said, pulling her data up on his system as well.

"Ten th-THOUSAND credits?" Lazhae sputtered. "That's – that's unreasonable!"

With a grin, Vacy shrugged. "Nah. It's resourceful. You said 'whatever it takes,' after all. I think I'm being quite fair."

Grumbling under his breath, Lazhae made the transfer. When Vacy saw the credits appear in her account, she quickly shut down her datapad, and then slipped an electroprong out of one of her belt pouches. Before the scientist could stop her, she jammed it into one of the input ports and activated the device. Sparks cascaded out of the holocomputer; the screen fizzled, blinked, and then went dark.

"What are you doing?" shrieked Lazhae. "My research… all my work! It'll take years – decades, even – to recreate what you just destroyed."

"Your research is sick," the spacer retorted. She removed the electroprong and replaced it in its pouch, then took Flashy back out of his holster.

Lazhae dropped to his knees in complete shock, his hands on the holocomputer as though he could somehow undo the damage. "How can you take her side?" he spat furiously. "Her kind would leave us rotting in ignorance, you weak, spineless fool!" He turned to Vacy in anger, but when he saw Flashy pointed at him, his eyes widened in fear and he scrambled backward. "No, stop!" he pleaded. "My mind is worth too much! I… I have so much to contribute!"

Flashy sneezed once, and the scientist's body crumpled to the floor.

Vacy shrugged. "Far's I'm concerned, you're nothing but a dirty slaver," she said to the corpse. She turned and walked over to Corso and the injured woman.

"I'm sorry I doubted you," Andrell murmured, her voice barely a whisper. "The genetic samples are in the cabinet on the far wall. I don't think it's locked; I've never seen anyone else down here." She smiled, taking a few breaths before continuing. "Thank you. This will be my legacy once I'm gone. That monster injected me with some disease… I don't even know what. Just that it hurts, and it's going to take awhile to kill me. If you've got any mercy in you… finish me now."

Corso looked at Vacy, his eyes pleading. "Captain, we can't… I mean, surely there's some way that…" His voice trailed off and he looked back at the woman in his arms as Vacy shook her head.

The spacer sighed. "You're not a doctor any more'n I am, Riggs." His shoulders drooped, and Vacy gently put a hand on his back. "Still. Money buys an awful lot of medicine, 'specially here on Nar Shaddaa." Corso straightened a bit, and Vacy felt a grin tugging at her mouth as she watched his expression change. She nodded to Andrell. "You got a rich daddy, aintcha? I think he'd do just about anything t'see you safe an' healthy again."

Corso grinned right back at Vacy. "Yeah. After all, he contacted you, didn't he?"

The woman looked at Vacy, her brow furrowing in puzzlement. "You really believe that, don't you? Maybe there's hope. I'll try… thank you."

While Corso made arrangments for Momi Andrell to be transported to a medical facility and got her to a speeder, Vacy composed a message to the woman's father, telling him where he could find his daughter and giving him what information she could about her condition. After that, they had to slice the repulsorlift controls on the shanjaru cage to program it to carry the beast to Drooga's barge.

It was some time before they finished up, but as they sat together in the taxi back to the promenade, Vacy found herself thinking about what had happened. She let out a long sigh.

Corso looked over at her. "Hey, don't trouble yourself about it, Captain. You did the right thing."

She turned to look back at him, one brow lifted inquisitively. "What d'you mean? How d'you know what I'm thinking about?"

He reached up with his left hand, tugging at her ponytail, and grinned. "Cuz I know you. And truth be told, I'm not the bloodthirsty sort, but I was a mite jealous that I wasn't the one to pull the trigger myself."

Vacy nodded slowly. "Yeah. I don't ever want to be the sort of person who enjoys killing, but… I did," she admitted quietly. "I enjoyed killing him."

With a sigh of his own, Corso reached out and pulled her close. She leaned against him, for once not resisting the comfort of his embrace. He wrapped her arms around her and smiled quietly to himself. "Guess there's just some folk that need t'be killed," he said. "And there ain't any sense in bein' miser'ble cuz yer makin' the world a better place."

"I s'pose so," Vacy replied. She looked up at her partner with an impish grin. "Besides. We've got plenty of reasons not to be miserable – about ten thousand of 'em, I figure."

And their laughter mingled with the music and noise from the city where anything was possible.


End file.
